Bittersweet Rain
by CherishXme
Summary: The Gauken Alice students go on a field trip to Camp Sommerset. Not only do they meet a few new people with strange Alice's, but they also get caught up in a sinister plot. Can Natsume protect the people he cares about before his time runs short? NXM
1. Chapter 1

**Bittersweet Rain**

By: Cherishxme

**Disclaimer:** As disclaimers apply.

**Summary:** Surprise! Usually Gauken Alice Academy makes sure none of their students ever go off campus, but for some special reason, the school has granted permission for the students to be able to go to Camp Sommerset as a reward for graduating their last year in Elementary school! There are many things to be done within that week of fun and entertainment… many sinister things as well.

Natsume is hiding a secret, and becomes more and more frustrated as he tries to keep his friends and the one he cares for the most from falling into the same darkness as him. However, his body condition has been worsening, and time is running short for him.

Sakura Mikan only wants everyone to have fun, and make great memories together. But she might lose the one thing in the world that means the most to her as she realizes with such gifts as Alice's, there comes responsibility and danger, and most of all, sacrifice.

* * *

"**Hotaarrru!**"

The beautiful young girl with dark locks and equally dark eyes that remained quite expressionless took out her always present baka-gun to fire a few shots at her overly eager friend.

**Baka!** **Baka!**

"What is it?" Hotaru asked as she finished counting the money she had made off of her blackmail pictures of Ruka in a pink frilly skirt.

Sakura Mikan, a small but very adorable elementary school Gauken Alice student managed to get herself off the floor after getting hit with a few shots from the baka-gun.

"I wanted to ask you to partner up with me for the camping trip we're all taking to the mountains!"

The brown haired girls heart broke into a million pieces as Hotaru continued sorting her money and put up a sign that said,

'Too cumbersome.'

"**Hotaru**! It's going to be so _fun_! I didn't ask anyone else!"

"I'm not going." Replied the ever-stoic dark headed girl.

Sakura started to cry as she clambered onto her friend's back and start pleading with her dear beloved friend.

"But _Hotaruuuu!_ Everyone has a partner and I wanted to share my tent with you! It won't be any fun without you!"

"Hotaru doesn't want to go because she hates camping and doesn't like not having clean showering facilities."

Kokoroyomi replied as he stood next to Hotaru's desk. His mind reading capabilities were a bit of a nuisance.

He barely dodged the baka-bullets.

"But it's a one of a time experience! You should come! Ruka-pyon and Natsume are coming too!"

The dark haired pyro gave Sakura an annoyed look.

"Can you stop whining and yapping your mouth Polka-dot panties?"

"Can't you just forget that? I thought we were friends! **Friends!**" Sakura screeched.

"Class lets settle down now! Has everyone found a camping partner to share a tent with today?"

Narumi asked, his pheromones spreading everywhere as he quieted the class down with his presence.

The poor partner-less Sakura Mikan started to sob.

"Raise your hands if you have no found a partner. I'll assign you one."

Ruka shook his blonde locks and sighed. He felt sorry for Sakura who was slowly raising her hand to signify that no one wanted her.

'Well. I would've been her partner but we can only go with the same gender.'

Before Sakura's hand could complete its humiliating trip up to being the class loner, Hotaru grabbed her friend's hand and yanked it down.

Sakura stared at her friend in astonishment, and a slow smile spread across her face as she realized her friend has accepted her proposal to be partners.

"Hotaru!" Sakura whispered happily with a look of relief.

"I guess everyone has found a partner then!" Narumi said with a bright smile. "I'll have to lay a few ground rules for this camping trip because it will be our first camping trip off of Gauken Academy's privately owned grounds."

* * *

Title: **Bittersweet Rain**

Chapter title: _Camp Sommerset_

_"Nnnn!"_

Stretching after a good nights rest, Sakura energetically patted the sides of her face with both hands and let out a loud woot.

It was her first actual camping trip.

It was signifying the end of elementary school, and their graduation towards middle school, but this was very exciting for the easily excitable Sakura Mikan.

She splashed water on her face and diligently combed her hair and put it up into her two signature ponytails.

'Eh? I grew taller.'

Sakura stared at her mirror and turned to her side and patted her chest.

'Well. I don't have any chest yet… not enough to wear a bra…'

**"MIKAN!"**

Someone knocked on her door loudly.

"You better _get_ down to the buses or I'm leaving without you!"

Sakura took one last look at her self and grabbed her bags that she had spent all night packing yesterday night.

**"MIKAN!"** Shumire screamed.

_"COMING!"_ Sakura chimed back as she opened the door to follow all her awaiting friends towards Camp Sommerset.

* * *

"…Nee-chan…"

The little boy with a mop silvery brown hair tugged on a long strand of light brown hair.

"_Please_… Youichi… _don't_…"

The usually energetic and happy Sakura looked as if she was going to barf. Her face was turning an interesting shade of purple and green as she clung desperately on the school bus windows, her chest dry heaving.

"You don't seem so good…" Iinchou said with worry. The class representative was sitting in the seat in front of Sakura Mikan. He turned around and looked down at his friend with worry.

"I don't know why I have to sit next to her." Natsume said with an exaggerated sigh. Sakura glared at him.

"You decided to sit here on your own!" Sakura hissed back.

Natsume pretended not to hear her, much to Sakura's anger.

"Here."

Hotaru was sitting behind Sakura. Using a new device she had designed, Hotaru handed Sakura something that looked like candy with a robotic arm that stretched out over the seat so that lazy Hotaru didn't have to move a muscle.

"What is it?"

"Something for your motion sickness."

Stars sparkled, mixing with tears of happiness in Sakura's eyes.

"**Hotaru!** _Uwah!_ You truly are the best of friends! I love you!"

"By the way Youichi, aren't you a little old now to be sitting on Mikan's lap?" Hotaru asked, ignoring her friend's overly doting arms.

Tears of rejection streaming down her face; Sakura opened the candy wrapper and ate it.

An explosion of flavor flooded her mouth and seeped through her body. Somehow effectively settling her nervous stomach.

"Ara! I feel better!"

Hotaru used the mechanic arm to retrieve the discarded package that Sakura had thrown aside carelessly and turned it over and pointed out some words.

The bright shiny red wrapper said:

**Motion Sickness Go Away!**

In a burst of flavor, say goodbye to sickness!

_Warning_, side effects may occur with consumption.

"Side effects? Ara?"

The light haired brunette felt something poke out on her forehead.

Pop. Pop.

Natsume looked over, his crimson eyes widening slightly. Quickly he turned his head away, his shoulders shaking.

"Ugly girl. Became uglier." The small boy sitting in her lap said with a straight face.

"_Whhhhaat?!_ What happened? **What happened**? Why are you laughing _Natsuummmee!"_

Ruka, who was sitting behind Natsume looked over and let out something that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a snort. Upon the brown haired girls confused look, he took out a mirror from his pocket and handed it to her.

Two lovely brown horns were growing out of her head.

"**HOTTARR**_**RUUUU**_**!"**

* * *

Two clenched fists rubbed furiously at tearful eyes as the horned Sakura Mikan stepped out of the school bus with a pout on her face.

For two hours Sakura had wailed and cried about the two horns on her head, and nobody would give her any comfort and just kept on giving her hell about it. Especially Natsume.

"Hey _Polka_, those horns make you look better. By just a little."

Taking a few steps from the bus Sakura pushed her arms straight down both her sides with a look of fury on her face. Her eyes were red from all the bawling.

"Stop being so mean **PERVERT**!"

"Because of you we couldn't enjoy the change of scenery." Natsume replied.

Hotaru emerged from behind Natsume, her purple eyes looking as expressionless as ever as she popped two earplugs out of her ears. She was the only one who enjoyed the ride in silence.

"C-change of scenery?" Sakura whimpered. She blinked and looked around, actually taking time to drink in the surrounding around her.

Three buses were unloading Gauken Alice students and the chatter of the students excitedly buzzed around the brown haired girl. The sun was bright and high in the sky, and beautiful foliage surrounded her. It was different front Gauken Alice's Northern Forest. It had no threatening aura. The forest was beautiful and warming to the heart.

"Oy! Mikan!"

Sakura turned around just to be gathered up in the arms of her most favorite senpai.

"**Tsubasa-senpai!**" Sakura yelled in delight as he twirled her in the air and slowly brought her down to her feet.

"What brings _you_ here?" Natsume asked, his voice icy and his eyes murderous.

'That kid hates me.' The older dark haired senior thought with nervousness as Natsume glared at him with hatred.

"I'm a chaperone! A few of the older students volunteered to help you graduating elementary students out and knowing you were in it Mikan, I volunteered right away."

"I'm so happy!" Sakura cried, her eyes sparkling.

It was then that Tsubasa noticed the two horns.

"Ara? Sakura… what are those two horns doing on your head?"

Sakura gasped, suddenly remembering why she was upset in the first place.

* * *

Ruka was thrilled. Nature was all around him and as soon as he stepped off the bus he was greeted by many forest companions.

The blonde haired boy enjoyed the beautiful scenery. For some reason, Camp Sommerset (he read the sign just as they entered the camping grounds) felt very free. It didn't feel like a prison like their academy usually did.

"What are you thinking about?"

Ruka turned around to look at Sakura, and blushed because she had pushed her face barely an inch away from his face.

"S-sakura… just… how beautiful it is today."

Actually, he was appreciating how the sun streamed through the locks of almost golden brown hair on Sakura Mikans head, and how pretty her brown eyes were against the beautiful scenery around him.

"How long is it going to take?" A student yelled from the back at Narumi, was taking the lead.

"Another hour!" Narumi sensei replied cheerfully, much to the dismay of the poor lagging behind student.

"Just kidding! Just fifteen minutes!" Narumi replied at the loud sounds of groaning.

"At least my horns went away…" Sakura muttered under her breath.

Hotaru passed her on a mini giraffe go-cart. All of her luggage was neatly stacked within the cart and Hotaru pressed a button, and the strange yellow and brown cart had a small device that popped out and poured a cup of sparkling soda for the thirsty and lazy student.

"_Hotaruuu!_ Can I ride with you?" Sakura called after her friend, trying to jog faster to keep up.

"Sorry. This cart can only handle this amount of luggage and one person." The ice maiden replied as Sakura ran next to Hotaru's go-cart to catch up.

Ruka smiled at Sakura as she stopped to catch her breath.

"Do you need some help? My friends can help you carry your luggage."

Sakura looked up quickly and saw that animals were carrying Ruka's luggage, and Natsume's as well.

'Why do I have such a useless Alice?' Sakura thought to herself as she watched Sumire pass by in her animal form in lightening speed with her luggage on her back, and the kid with the floating alice floating himself and his luggage to its final destination.

* * *

Natsume was not very happy with the long hard trek to their camping site. He didn't really like doing so much work right now at all.

He leaned against a tree and rested his head against trunk as he put one hand up to his heart. His heart pounded erratically as he tried to bring his harsh breathing down to normal.

'My body has deteriorated so much… This really sucks.'

"Hey! Natsume!"

Natsume clenched his teeth together, gritting it to brace himself as he quickly pushed himself away from the tree trunk to face the familiar voice.

Bright brown eyes accompanied by a big bright smile greeted him. Her hands held two glistening cold water bottles; one of them was open with the words "MIKAN" written in permanent marker across the front.

"So exciting isn't it? Do you want some water? Tsubasa-senpai and Tono-senpai are handing out water bottles."

Natsume didn't reply and just stared at Sakura's face.

'I did it all just for her. I don't know how much longer I can be next to her.'

"Natsume?"

"Oy **Ugly**. Let me use your bottle."

"B-but I got you one--."

Without giving her a chance to finish her protest, he grabbed Sakura's bottle and gulped the rest of her water down and tossed her the bottle, effectively hitting her across the head.

**"HEY!"**

Sakura shrieked as she shook her empty bottle.

"Tsubasa-senpai said we only get this one water bottle till tomorrow morning!"

Natsume gave her a look and grabbed the unopened full bottle from her other hand.

"Well that's too bad."

"N-natsume!!" Sakura shrieked, making Natsume's ears bleed.

"If its that bad… do you want me to share this water with you?"

"Yes!" Sakura said haughtily.

"It's a very hot day and I barely even got a sip out of my own water bottle!"

A smirk made its way across Natsume's face as he leaned forward, making Sakura uncomfortable.

"No."

'I must be a masochist.' Natsume thought with ill humor as Sakura started to wail and pain his ears with her rants about his selfish and perverted ways.

But for some reason, Natsume wishes days like this would last forever. Because he knew they wouldn't.

* * *

Sakura had a hard time pitching the tent by herself.

**"HOTARUUU PLEASE HELP ME!"**

Her partner didn't reply.

Sakura wiped her hand across her sweat soaked brow, effectively smudging dirt across her face.

All the Gauken Alice students had to pitch their own tents.

"It builds character." Jiro sensei replied at the students groaning.

The tents were divided by gender. There were two large clearings separated by a small row of trees, and an even larger clearing that connected the two areas together. One side was for the girls, and the other side, was for the boys.

There were four smaller camps within the big camp, and each smaller camp had one older student, and one teacher guarding them. Sakura and Hotaru was lucky to have Misaki be their older student chaperone, unlucky Tsubasa had the pleasure of chaperoning Natsume, Ruka, and all the trouble making boys.

"Hotaru?"

Sakura tripped on her feet when she saw the all too familiar catepillar sleeping bag that her best friend liked to go into when she wanted to be left alone.

"What about the experience of sharing a tent? The comradely?" Sakura begged from outside the smiling caterpillar entrance way.

Hotaru didn't answer.

'Fine! I'll make the tent and have so much fun Hotaru would WANT to join me!'

Sakura got up and brought her two hands in front of her in a gesture of self-determination.

'Just you wait Hotaru! I'll pitch a great tent for you!'

Thirty minutes passed, and Hotaru decided to open her sleeping bag because she had not heart a word out of Sakura during those thirty minutes.

"Mikan?"

_"H-h-hotaru…"_

A tearful voice replied.

"Baka."

Sakura had pitched something up, but it didn't look like a tent. In fact, Sakura had somehow managed to tear the top of the tent with her well-known "gracefulness".

The girl burst into tears, sobbing as she looked around at everyone else's perfectly pitched tent of many sizes and shapes. Everyone had a pretty tent in his or her area, except for her. It was all her fault.

"I'm sorry Hotaru! I wanted you to have fun and I know you didn't want to get dirty out here in the dirt so I tried to pitch a tent so we can have fun in… and I messed it up! I'm so sorry!"

After listening to her wailing friend for a few minutes, Hotaru got up and walked over next to Sakura.

"Huh?" Sakura stopped crying to look up at her emotionless friend.

Hotaru removed a small black seed from her pocket and planted it in the ground before them. Hotaru crawled back into her caterpillar sleeping bag and came back out with a water bottle and sprinkled a little water over the seed.

_FWOOSH!_

A big gust of air blew up in both of the girl's faces as a very grandiose and peculiar looking tent magically grew from the seed in front of them.

"W-what?" Sakura stuttered, staring at instantly made tent.

"It's a tent in a seed, my invention. I managed to compress a high-tech tent into a small seed for easy storage… It comes with AC, beds, television, a fridge, and a shower." Hotaru replied.

"**SUGGOIII!** HOTARU IS SO WONDERFUL!" Sakura replied, clapping her hands together.

The tent was purple with a gigantic penguin head on top. There were windows with princess curtains, it was almost three times as big as everyone else tent, and was crushing a nearby student's tent with its enormous size.

"We're going to make great memories here Hotaru! I can just feel it!"

Hotaru managed a small smile at her friend's happiness. Sakura's excitement was contagious. She had a feeling this would be the first camping trip that she'd enjoy in her lifetime.

* * *

"Gauken Alice Academy, elementary division?"

A tall lady with long wine colored hair that was layered to flawlessly frame her small oval face and big green eyes, looked at the small dark haired boy in front of her. He stared back at her haughtily, and with and icy demeanor.

"I'm the elementary school president." He replied at her question. "You must be Phoenix Green."

"Yes." The lady smiled at the little boy. Her smile was almost contemptuous.

"I've managed to bring out the student here, so will you or will you not?" The principal asked at the mysterious lady with a quizzical eyebrow.

"Usually I'm not interested in such trivial games such as yours, but if you have that something that I want, I'd be more that happy to help you with your leisurely _pleasure_ of **destroying** other peoples lives." Phoenix Green answered with a dry smile.

"If you're looking for what you told me you wanted, here it is. I also want her, I'll let you use her for that one goal of yours as long as you help me get what I need."

Phoenix Green scrutinized the small figured boy with hard green eyes.

"Well. You have got your deal. Many things are going to happen this week, and since we're out of Gauken Alice territory, anything that can happen, will."

The echoes of student's voices nearing the large connecting clearing for dinner signaled the end of their conversation.

"Well, let me introduce you to our students. I'm sure they will be thrilled to see you." The principal said with a small smile.

"You are a horribly selfish and cruel man." Phoenix said with a small smile as she saw a few kids with lighted lanterns crowd towards the camping ground.

"But that's why we get along."

* * *

To be continued…

Please read and review!

Xo,

cherishxme

* * *

In chapter 2:

**Preview:**

"I'm Phoenix Green. I used to be a student at your academy, just like all of you nubile young students today! I'm actually a volunteer who decided to give back to the school which has given me so very much!"

Smiling broadly, the oddly pretty stranger waved at the crowd of Gauken Alice students.

"I'm going to do my best to make your experience here one you'll never forget! Welcome to Camp Sommerset!"

There were loud cheers and shouts.

Natsume was the only student who did not look enthused. In fact, his crimson eyes looked very worried.

'That lady looks very familiar…'

He also found it very odd that Gauken Alice Academy would allow field trips off school grounds, and not just that, if this was a trip specially designed for just the graduating Elementary students, how come all of the elementary school division ended up tagging along? Something didn't feel right.

"_Psst_… Natsume… Isn't that Nobara?"

The black haired youth was shaken out of deep thought as Sakura Mika pointed out the ice princess standing at the back of the stage, next to the principal, and most of all standing next to…

"And isn't that Persona? What is he doing here?"

A shiver of fright went down Natsume's back.

'What's going on?'

It didn't make it any better when Persona caught his eye and removed his mask to smile at him.

'Something is going on…'

Natsume felt his heart speed up a little bit as he looked over at Sakura Mikan and all of his friends sitting there blissfully without a care in the world.

"Nobara must be here because she's graduating too!"

Natsume was so concerned with his thoughts, he did not notice the green eyes of the mysterious lady named Phoenix Green scan the group of students with her eyes. He didn't notice the slight smile that came across her face as her eyes landed on Sakura Mikan, and how her grin grew wider as she looked at the group around her, and how she eyed Natsume hungrily.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bittersweet Rain**

By: Cherishxme

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gauken Alice, and never will.

**Authors note:** I hope everyone enjoys the second chapter! I'm having fun writing this story, I hope you have just as much fun reading it! Please read and review!

* * *

Chapter two: **The Beginning**

"Natsume, what do you think of Mikan?"

The ebony haired boy jumped at the mention of that girls name.

"What's this about?" Natsume asked with a grunt as he looked down at his best friend from his perch up on the tree branch.

Ruka-pyon looked at Natsume for a long time and turned his head away quickly.

A sigh escaped Natsume's lips as he jumped down from the tree limb to join his friend.

"I think she's an idiot, who whines a lot, and is pretty useless."

"She's not—" Ruka started to defend his crush when he realized what Natsume was getting at.

"I know you like her Natsume. Stop pretending that you don't in front of me."

"It's weird to hear you being so direct. Love has made you stubborn." Natsume replied, making Ruka blush and glare at his friend with embarrassment.

"I know you went out of your way to save her. You're kind Natsume, but that sacrifice was extreme."

"Yeah." Natsume replied, not really answering anything.

There was a long silence.

"Are you okay?" Ruka asked quietly.

"Of course."

"I meant your health."

Natsume looked at his friend, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

Ruka was about to open his mouth to ask another question, but swallowed it almost as immediately as he was about to start asking it. Instead, he turned to look Natsume straight in the eye.

"I won't lose. I will protect her too."

"Good." Natsume replied. "Because I can't always be there."

Ruka blinked at the odd answer.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing." Natsume muttered and looked away. "Look, it must be time for dinner, everyone is making their way to the center."

* * *

The little clearing designed for recreational activities and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner consisted of a large bonfire, picnic tables, a stage, and a few cabins scattered within the large arena. Currently, the smell of food hung in the air like a thick curtain.

"The food isn't too bad."

Kokoroyomi commented with his ever-present smile as he gulped down on his dish.

Sakura Mikan was in absolute bliss

"Eating food outdoor is bliss! The taste of true camping has provoked my taste buds!"

"Sakura, you're creating a mess…" Yuu said nervously as he tried to mop up Sakura's unintentional spilling of her chocolate milk over the table with a napkin.

**Baka! Baka!**

Two rounds of Baka-bullets calmed Sakura down. Hotaru delicately forked her steak and put it in her mouth.

"Hotaru said she'd like to enjoy her meal in peace." Koko replied in Hotaru's stead.

Shumire rolled her eyes as Sakura moped around on her meal.

"_Wahh_, Hotaru hit me…"

"Sakura calm down… oh, by the way, did you guys get the pamphlet that was being handed around? It has the list of camping activities on it."

"Oh!" Her previous misery forgotten, Sakura grabbed the pamphlet from Shumire's claws and read the first few activities.

"White water rafting… canoeing… Alice Group Contests… Prizes… Wow, so many activities to do!"

"What I can't wait for is the Graduation Ceremony, apparently we're going to have to walk the stage here, and also we have a Graduation Ball afterwards!"

A dreamy look overcame Shumires eyes.

"And my ball partner is going to either be Ruka or the dreamy Natsume…"

"I don't think so." Koko replied cheerfully, making Shumire turn around and hiss and grab his shirt collar.

"What makes you think _THAT_? **HUH**?"

"He said so, in his head." Koko replied with a wide smile. His fingers pointed to the untouchable Natsume Hyuuga.

He was standing there with a dinner tray in one hand, and his hand in his pocket in the other.

Ruka stood behind him with the ever-present bunny on his head, and his dinner plate firmly held between two hands in front of him.

"Sorry we were so late!" Ruka said cheerfully as he sat next to Sakura Mikan.

"…"

Shumire had hearts flying all over the air around her.

"Sit next to me Natsume! This seat is wide open for y-."

"Hey."

Tsubasa plopped down in the seat with his dinner plate and grinned across the table at them. "How're you guys doing? Enjoying the dinner?"

Shumire looked liked she was going to strangle the good-looking older boy.

Natsume glared at the older man, looked at Ruka, then looked at Hotaru who was sitting next to Sakura, diligently eating her meal.

He plopped his meal between Hotaru and Sakura, earning squeaks of protest from the pig-tailed girl.

"Hey." Natsume said as he turned to look at Sakura's enraged face.

Tsubasa looked at Natsume curiously and a mischevious look crossed his face as he saw Ruka's expression of slight jealousy.

"Hey Sakura, what's is your type of guy?"

"What? Why all of a sudden?"

Hotaru knew what was going on and kept quiet, but gave a rather menacing look to the older boy with a "you-know-better-than-that" look.

"I was wondering, now you're about to go to middle school, you should be looking for a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend?"

A stunned look swept across her face. "Do you _NEED _one in middle school?"

Hotaru gave Tsubasa another look.

"Of course you do, it's a requirement."

"Then how come you've never had a girlfriend before Tsubasa senpai?" Koko asked, reading his mind effeciantely. "Apparently you got rejected by two girls and after that you've never fully recovered… does that make you a flunkey?"

Tsubasa's eyebrows twitched as he turned to stare the mind reader down, only to be looked back with wide open and innocent eyes.

"Well… if I wanted a boyfriend… he'd be a guy like you or Natsumi-senpai." Sakura replied, much to the surprise of everyone and chagrin of two boys sitting next to her. Shumire nearly spit out all the milk she had been drinking on Koko's face.

"_M-m-me_?" Tsubasa asked, not being able to suppress a slight blush. "W-whats so good about me?"

"Yeah. What IS so good about that good for nothing Hage?" Natsume asked with a dark look on his face.

"D-do you have a crush on Narumi-senpai?" Shumire asked, her eyes wide with disbelief. "He's so… homo!" A picture of Narumi-sensei in a flamboyant suit laughing and dancing around merrily was playing itself repeatedly in Shumires mind.

"Well… these two people were the kindest to me and means the most. Tsbuasa-senpai was the one to save me from those bullies, and Narumi-sensei was always there when I needed someone to lean on most… but of course, none of that can beat my love for Hotaru!"

'Please leave me out of your romance mess.' Hotaru replied with a sign.

Tsubasa sweatdropped. 'No one beats Hotaru in Sakura's heart…'

"Forget it. She'd never get a boyfriend. She should just give up."

Natsume spooned his meal into his mouth as Sakura turned to glare at him.

"She's **stupid**,** dense**, _talent less_, and even more…"

Natsume plopped an arm around Sakura and groped her chest.

"She's as flat as a pancake."

Tsubasa spaced out.

Shumire gaped.

Ruka blushed and glared at Natsume.

Hotaru put up a small sign that said "Oh my…'

**"N-n-Natsume!"**

Sakura screamed, effectively shaking birds out of trees and causing bears to run with panic.

Ending the discussion about Sakura's man efficiently.

* * *

"The opening ceremony is going to suck…" a Gauken Alice student moaned as they headed to the grassy area next to a large stage for the last program before they were all required to go to bed.

They had arrived at Camp Sommerset in the early afternoon, spent most of the early hours walking to the camp site, the later hours working on tents and settling in, and as it became dark, they've spent the last few hours of light eating dinner. The sun was setting and bringing darkness along with it. The special torches the technology Alice group had created for the trip lit up the darkness.

The restless mutterings died off as Narumi sensei got on to stage. With his pheromone Alice, he effectively managed to shut everyone up.

"Hello graduating class and the rest of the elementary school division! We've been lucky enough to have our wish to travel out of Gauken Alice grounds granted to us, and it is all thanks to our elementary school principal. He would like to share a few words with everyone here today."

The blonde haired teacher stepped back and turned around to hang the mike off to the smaller man. The principal grinned and nodded at Narmui, dismissing him. No one in the audience saw Narumi's worried look as he walked off stage. He looked up before he went to sit on the chairs with the rest of the teachers, his eyes searching for the little girl he had come to care about so much, and he found her. She met his eyes and smiled brightly and waved.

'I'll protect you Mikan.' Narumi thought as he smiled back and waved. 'Something is weird about everything going on this week. I'll help you make it out safely.'

"Hello students, I'm pleased to see that we've got here safely and everyone has settled in quite nicely. Let me tell you a few rules that will be strictly followed."

He looked around at everyone solemnly.

"Rule number **one**. No one will leave his or her tents once lights out has been established. You will be open for punishment and we will not be held responsible if something is to happen to you. If you need something or require something, everyone will be handed a walkie talkie that will enable you to have an older chaperone of your section comes to help you."

"Rule number **two**, the students will not wander off from the area that they've been allowed to romp in. If you do, that will count as a strike. The last rule is to be present for every event that is marked with a star next to it in your pamphlet. They are the last requirement classes for you to take to graduate. If you miss them, it will count as a strike."

"Every time you break a rule, it is a strike. With three strikes you will not graduate if you're a graduating elementary school student, and you will be sent back to the academy right away."

'Wow, the rules are kind of harsh…' Sakura thought as she stared at the principal.

"If you miss breakfast, lunch, or dinner… you miss it. We will **not **feed you. Breakfast is at 8:00 am till 10:00 am, lunch is from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm; Dinner is from 6:00 pm till 9:00 pm. So be sure to be on time."

"We're stating these rules and regulations for your protection. As you know, this is our first time camping off of Gauken Alice grounds. If you want another one of these trips, please sure to behave."

The principal smiled at everyone who looked a bit uneasy.

"But please enjoy yourselves here, and do not worry, those rules are not very hard to keep. But now, let me introduce you to a few new people joining us here today… this lady is the owner of these lands and will be the one to head most of your activities!"

The principal stepped away and handed the mike to a tall lady with wine colored purple red hair. She was dressed in a black tank top and cargo pants.

"I'm Phoenix Green. I used to be a student at your academy, just like all of you nubile young students today! I'm actually a volunteer who decided to give back to the school which has given me so very much!"

Smiling broadly, the oddly pretty stranger waved at the crowd of Gauken Alice students.

"I'm going to do my best to make your experience here one you'll never forget! Welcome to Camp Sommerset!"

There were loud cheers and shouts.

Natsume was the only student who did not look enthused. In fact, his crimson eyes looked very worried.

'That lady looks very familiar…'

He also found it very odd that Gauken Alice Academy would allow field trips off school grounds, and not just that, if this was a trip specially designed for just the graduating Elementary students, how come all of the elementary school division ended up tagging along? Something didn't feel right.

"_Psst_… Natsume… Isn't that Nobara?"

The black haired youth was shaken out of deep thought as Sakura Mika pointed out the ice princess standing at the back of the stage, next to the principal, and most of all standing next to…

"And isn't that Persona? What is he doing here?"

A shiver of fright went down Natsume's back.

'What's going on?'

It didn't make it any better when Persona caught his eye and removed his mask to smile at him.

'Something is going on…'

Natsume felt his heart speed up a little bit as he looked over at Sakura Mikan and all of his friends sitting there blissfully without a care in the world.

"Nobara must be here because she's graduating too!"

Natsume was so concerned with his thoughts, he did not notice the green eyes of the mysterious lady named Phoenix Green scan the group of students with her eyes. He didn't notice the slight smile that came across her face as her eyes landed on Sakura Mikan, and how her grin grew wider as she looked at the group around her, and how she eyed Natsume hungrily.

"Now, let me introduce some of my friends who are also helping out in our event this week…"

Two older teenagers and a small elementary student who looked around Natsume's age stepped forward from the shadows.

"This is Leela Shu."

The oldest girl had straight jet-black hair and dark black eyes. It almost seemed like she had no pupils. Her skin was snow white, and she wore black lipstick and was wearing a red t-shirt and very worn looking blue jeans.

"She looks like Sunako… she's going to get sunburned." Shumire said with a smirk. The curly haired girl jumped when the girl seemed to look over at her and smile.

"This is Sho Honda."

The second to oldest was a good-looking male with platinum blonde hair and brown eyes. He had several scars on his face and a strange tattoo going up his neck. He was wearing a red t-shirt as well with a pair of black long shorts.

"Oh… he's cute…" Shumire said dreamily. "_Sho_… Sho Honda…"

"And this is my cute little son, Estyvan Green."

The young boy had the same wine colored reddish purple hair as his mother, but his eyes were a startling color of red. He was about the same height as Natsume, and had an almost carefree look to his eyes. He wasn't plain looking, but he wasn't exactly up to Ruka or Natsume's par, but he was very close to it.

"I hope we all get along this week. Be sure to pick up the activity packets and come to them on time! Goodnight everyone!"

* * *

"Hotaru?"

Sakura Mikan poked her friend on the face with a stick. A baka bullet embedded itself in her face.

"What?"

"I wonder what their Alice's are… you know, the new kids and that lady?"

"I guess we will find out."

The brown haired girl wiggled in her bed restlessly.

"I can't wait for tomorrow."

"Go to bed so tomorrow can come faster." Hotaru replied with a stress mark forming across her forehead.

"I can't… lets stay up and talk…"

"Don't make me tranquilize you." Hotaru said with all seriousness.

"Hn… I wonder what Natsume and Ruka are up to. They're partners right?"

"Probably sleeping. Like what we should do." Hotaru replied, her purple eyes closed tight as she slowly reached for her earplugs located at the end of her bed.

"… I wish Tsubasa-senpai was younger? I really like him. He reminds me of a movie star."

"I'm sure Natsume would be thrilled to hear that." Hotaru muttered.

"Even more, Ruka will cry his heart out."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing." Hotaru replied as she stuck the earplugs in her ears.

"Goodnight Sakura."

Sakura Mikan rolled over onto her stomach, deep in thought.

'I wonder what those new people are like? I wonder what memories we're going to make here?'

Sighing happily Sakura lied back down on her bed, sprawling her arms out in happiness.

Suddenly she realized she had to go pee.

Sakura rushed to the built in bathroom.

"Whhaat? Why does the bathroom only have a shower and a sink?!"

Sakura tried to crawl back into bed but moved back and forth in pain.

'My bladder is going to burst… but it's lights out already… if I leave my tent I'll get in trouble…'

Sakura suddenly had a brilliant idea.

'I know! I'll just pee behind a bush!'

She was about to realize that wasn't exactly the brightest of ideas as she quickly unzipped the entrance to the tent to make her way out into the night.

'No one will catch me, it'll only take ten minutes…'

To be continued…

* * *

**Preview for the next chapter:**

"Nice underwear. Do you need toilet paper?"

Sakura froze in her steps as someone threw a roll of toilet paper at her.

The pigtailed girl wildly swung her head around in confusion.

"W-w-who… _WHO IS THERE_?" Sakura shrieked as she gripped onto her pink and white bunny imprinted nightgown in fear.

There was a rustle above her and someone came hurtling out of the trees.

A purple haired boy with crimson red eyes stood in front of her.

"E-e-estyvan?"

"And you are?"

"S-sakura Mikan…"

"Nice strawberry printed underwear by the way. I was trying to enjoy the scenery. I guess I actually did, but not the scenery I've originally planned to look at."

It took five whole minutes for Sakura to realize what he said.

The boy had a wide smile across his face.

"_P-p-p-p_… **PERVERT!**"


End file.
